At last, monks to pay abuse victims £1.3m from abbey’s coffers

VICTIMS of abuse at a notorious boarding school run by Catholic monks will be paid damages from a £1.3million compensation fund.

Abbot Geoffrey Scott yesterday apologised on behalf of the Congregation of Benedictine Monks for a catalogue of physical and sexual abuse at Fort Augustus Abbey School.

The 72-year-old also revealed that a fund, consisting of the assets of the nowclosed abbey, would be used to compensate victims.

Giving evidence at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in Edinburgh, Abbot Scott said that he had listened to evidence given by former pupils about the abuse they suffered at the school.

He also told head of the inquiry Lady Smith that he fully believed ‘abuse did happen’ and was already aware of several settlements, including two of £50,000, being made from the order to victims. Abbot Scott confirmed there had been ten settlements reached in relation to alleged abuse and there were at least two outstanding claims.

The cleric, who teaches at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, and is Abbot of Douai Abbey in France, told the hearing: ‘I would like to say that having sat through the hearing for the last three weeks, I do believe that abuse did happen in this school.

‘I would like to offer a sincere apology personally and on behalf of the congregation.’

He said when the Fort Augustus trust was closed, the assets were transferred to the English Benedictine Congregation but were intended to be ‘generally directed towards Scotland and the Catholic church’ or ‘help former pupils of the school’.

He also said it had been discussed within the Congregation of Benedictine Monks that the trust should be used to compensate victims and their families for the abuse that took place at Fort Augustus.

His said the trust’s assets had been valued at around £1,292,590.

Former pupils of Fort Augustus school have made allegations of physical abuse, sexual assault and rape since it closed in 1993. Last week, the inquiry heard how a teacher at the school tried to lure a child into taking part in an orgy.

A witness, known to the inquiry as Michael, was taken to the teacher’s house to watch a pornographic film during a half-term holiday.

He said he was then sexually abused, adding: ‘He was telling me it was a bit of fun, it was normal practice.’

The 2013 BBC documentary Sins of Our Fathers first exposed the allegations against monks from the Fort Augustus Abbey School.

In 2017, former priest Father Benedict Seed was found guilty of assault to injury of a pupil in the 1970s and 1980s.

Father Denis ‘Chrysostom’ Alexander, who taught at the school during the 1960s and 1970s, was returned to Australia by the Catholic Church in 1979 after a pupil alleged that he had been abused by him.

The Australian government has recently said it believes the monk should face trial in Scotland over a number of serious allegations made against him, however he is contesting this on grounds of ill health.

Yesterday’s hearing was the conclusion of evidence given in relation to Fort Augustus Abbey School.

The inquiry continues.